Laksala welcomes MV Arcadia with 1500 passengers

More than 1500 passengers from MV Arcadia, the fourth largest of eight ships currently in service with P&O Cruises (a British cruise line based at Carnival House in Southampton, England) fleet, visited Laksala at Thummulla on 23rd this month from 9.30 am to 5.30pm on a shuttle bus service operated from the Port of Colombo. Passengers visited were welcomed by a Kandyan troupe of traditional dancers and drummers. Laksala presented various traditional dancing events to entertain visitors. Whenever this giant vessel reaches Sri Lanka, tourists on board visit Laksala at Thummulla.

Two craftsmen who were on the Laksala premises demonstrated how to carve wooden masks and elephants and these tourists were pleased to see their carvings. In order to support local handicraftsmen working with Laksala, they purchased Gem & Jewellery, Brass, Textile (Handloom and Batik), Tea, Wood Carving, SPA, Spices, Ceramic, Leather, Rush & Reed related products.

MV Arcadia costs almost $400m and was built by Fincantieri at their shipyard in Marghera, Italy. At over 84,000 tonnes, the ship officially entered service with the company in April 2005. This ship measures 289.90m in length. The approx. 869 crew members take good care of the maximal 2,388 passengers. This is the fourth P&O ship to be named Arcadia. The first Arcadia sailed from 1887 to 1915 and carries 410 passengers. The second Arcadia sailed form 1954 to 1979 and carried a total of 1,405 passengers. The third Arcadia sailed from 1989 to 2003 and carried 1,458 passengers.

Laksala joins World Down Syndrome Day 2019

 The management at Laksala has taken a step to support differently able and slow learning children in Sri Lanka under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project following World Down Syndrome Day held on 21st  this month.  Accordingly, Laksala opened its doors for children at "Diri Daru Piyasa", fine art and vocational training centre,  handled by Miranda Hemalatha Kala Ashramaya under the leadership of  Dr. Miranda Hemalatha, an award-winning artist and the first Director of Aesthetic Education. “Diri Daru Piyasa” is a project started in 2003 as a result of a very successful experiment conducted during the previous four years from 2000 to 2003 to develop the down syndrome children.

A  foreign couple looking at products of Diri Daru Piyasa

A special rack in the Laksala flagship store at Thummulla, Colombo 07 was allocated to sell products made by these children. Dr, Hemalatha visited Laksala on World Down Syndrome Day with children of  Diri Daru Piyasa.

In a special discussion with Laksala, Dr. Hemalatha said” At present we have 68 children learning carpentry, tailoring, making doormats, fabric painting, and many crafts through which these children could make money for their living. They learn languages, mathematics and develop other skills they need to lead a balanced life. They can communicate fairly well and use the calculator too. They are good in dancing and music, some of them are nearly normal.”

Children of Diri Daru Piyasa
 display their products at Laksala

“We have been able to develop the skills of our children to a high level to participate in many dance music and art competitions at which they were able to receive many awards winning 1st, 2nd, and 3rd  places. Also, they have done very well in sports winning awards. They too have been participating in international seminars held in Sri Lanka as dancers. Very often these children participate in many other programmes organized by the hospitals, universities, and other private organizations.”

Founder Dr. Miranda Hemalatha

“We have already started job-oriented vocational training institute to develop the special children for some kind of a vocation so that they could also be independent as the other citizens. In this regard, we have been successful in our experiment and as a result, two girls are now teaching at Ladies College Colombo, Lyceum International School at Nugegoda where they get paid for their service. We are also able to develop the skills of a boy to be a tailor and quite a number for various jobs. We have presented children as solo dancers.”

“We provide all facilities free of charge to make our majority Downs and few Autism and also few CP children to make their lives as successful grown-up citizens. Our main effort is to serve the really needy children of mother Lanka though they are born to lower economic strata. We are also grateful to individuals and organization  for their help to enhance our efforts in skill development of these children.”